GIANTS' 2011-2012 SEASON IN REVIEW: LOOKING BACK AT A SUPER BOWL SEASON (http://www.bigblueview.com/2012/2/19/2807910/new-york-giants-2011-2012-season-in-review-looking-back-at-a-super)

"I have been thinking that here at Big Blue View we moved much too quickly
from 'Super Bowl championship celebration' mode into 'same old offseason
draft/free agency' discussion mode.<div class="entry-body">

With that in mind I thought I would start a series of posts looking back at
the 2011-2012 season. It ended, as we know, with the fourth Super Bowl title in
franchise history. We also know it didn't always look like a championship -- or
maybe even a playoff -- season.</p>

I will go through the season from training camp right through the Super Bowl
victory over the New England Patriots. This post will look at training camp, and
subsequent posts will go through each game of the season. I am not sure how many
posts will run each day, but my aim is to get through the entire series within
the next week.</p>

As I go through these I will look at what happened at each step, and what we
were writing about and talking about here at BBV. So, let's get started.</p>
<p class="extend-divide"><a name="storyjump"></a>http://cdn1.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v5e9d7f1.jpg</p>
<h4>Training Camp/Preseason</h4>

When the lockout finally ended and training camp began at the Timex
Performance Center in late July, there was already a bit of a gloomy feeling
around the Giants. They had not made the playoffs in two years, and the early
signs were not good.</p>

Osi Umenyiora was unhappy, and didn't show up for work on Day 1 of camp.
First-round pick Prince Amukamara was a holdout. Rich Seubert and Shaun O'Hara
had been let go. Ahmad Bradshaw was still unsigned -- as were Kevin Boss and
Steve Smith. The Philadelphia Eagles had added Nnamdi Asomugha.</p>

On Aug. 1, just a few days into camp, I tried to offer some reassurance (http://www.bigblueview.com/2011/8/1/2309029/giants-training-camp-2011-time-for-a-little-perspective), writing this:</p>

There are plenty of questions around the Giants right now. And, sure, on
paper maybe they have lost a little ground to the Eagles. But, who cares about
paper, anyway? It's about what happens on the field, as 2007 proved.</p>

The Giants remain one of the most talented teams in the league. I have
said it before, but regardless of what the other teams around the league do the
Giants need to take care of their own business. If some of the big-name guys
like Bradshaw choose to leave, replace them the best way they can. Then, on the
field, quit beating themselves. Do that, things will be just fine.</p>

Some of you bought it, some of you didn't. As we know now, things were going
to get worse.</p>

Smith and Boss signed elsewhere, and we all wondered how the Giants would
replace them.</p>

The injuries began to pile up. Bruce Johnson ruptured an Achilles Tendon.
Amukamara finally signed, then promptly broke his foot. Umenyiora kept
complaining and demanding a trade, then opted for knee surgery partway through
the preseason. Terrell Thomas went down for the season with a knee injury.
Another corner, Brian Witherspoon, did the same. Second-round draft pick Marvin
Austin was lost for the year to a torn pectoral muscle. Clint Sintim went down
with another knee injury. The list of injured seemed to grow every day.</p>

There was lots of unrest in the fan base and the media as the Giants seemed
to be losing players -- and losing ground to the favored Eagles -- while not
doing much, or really anything at all, to plug the holes. For the first time in
his tenure as GM there was real criticism of Reese (http://www.bigblueview.com/2011/8/11/2357201/jerry-reese-guides-giants-into-a-changing-of-the-guard).</p>

Here is some of that criticism, and how I responded to it at the time:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Mike
Garafolo of the Star-Ledger isn't really sure what Reese is doing (http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2011/08/giants_had_better_hope_general.html). He wrote:</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><i style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">"...
for the first time in his tenure, I can't see the method behind the madness. I'm
officially skeptical. If he's got a plan, he's doing a great job of keeping it
to himself right now. And he'd better have a plan because, much as he told us he
thought this roster was good enough as currently constructed, it's not. It's
just not.[/i]</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><i style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">"That's
enough sitting back for Reese. It's time for him to jump up and do something
here."[/i]</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Where
MG is wrong here is that Reese, as Roberts indicated, has already jumped up and
done something. He has changed, in several key spots, the personnel on a
football team that did not make the playoffs the past two seasons.</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">He
did not do it in the splashy way the Eagles or Jets have done it. He did it by
trusting his talent evaluation, by firmly and irrevocably planting the success -
or failure -- of the Giants 2011 season on the backs of many of the players he
has brought into the organization via the draft, trades and free-agent signings.
Several of those players have not yet really had a chance to get on the field
full time and show whether or not Reese was right about them.</p>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Now,
they will have that opportunity. The Giants season will ride on them, and so in
some respects will Reese's reputation as a top-notch talent
evaluator.</p></blockquote>
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 18px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 13px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Reese
also remained confident. Remember when he 'guaranteed' a playoff berth (http://www.bigblueview.com/2011/8/11/2358221/giants-gm-jerry-reese-well-get-into-the-playoffs)?</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">"We'll
make the plays this time and we'll get into the playoffs and we'll make a
run."</p>
<p style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Reese
acknowledged the unrest of the team's fan base, saying "it seems like people are
in a little bit of a panic."</p>
<p style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; PADDING-TOP: 0px">"The
perception is that we are not doing a lot. We had a game plan and we are
sticking to our game plan," Reese said."We feel good about our roster and we
have a strong roster. We will continue to try to make it
stronger."</p></blockquote>

At the time no one knew how right the GM would be. I am certain even he
didn't know."</p></div>

gmen46

02-22-2012, 04:13 PM

For no explicable reason whatsoever, while reading these Reese quotes in retrospect I cannot shake the sound of Coach Vermeil's voice and speech pattern as he addresses the press after Week 1 in 1999 after it was announced that Trent Green--whom the Rams had so publicly pinned their hopes on for 1999--was out for the season.

"We WILL rally around Kurt Warner (WHO??) and we WILL play good football" (or something close to that).